


The two awkward fools

by IHaveNoClueDude



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I just really love tech dudes, Slow Burn, idek dude
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-08
Updated: 2020-12-05
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:22:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25778110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IHaveNoClueDude/pseuds/IHaveNoClueDude
Summary: Two awkward fools meet for the first time after being on the same ship for a long while. An obvious crush on both sides makes the friends around them want to just lock them in somewhere until someone confesses. But decides not to. Hence an awkward slow burn arises. This is the story of Elfie Maxwell and Montgomery Scott, two fools who couldn’t see that the feelings were mutual and therefore drove the people around them rather irritated.It basically revolves just around them and the evolution of it all. And there isn't really any big superficial descriptions of Elfie so... Yup.
Relationships: Montgomery "Scotty" Scott & Original Female Character, Montgomery "Scotty" Scott/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 7





	1. Let's get going shall we?

"Kiddo! Maxwell!"

“I’m not a kid McCoy, I’m just a few years younger than you god dammit.” Max sighed, swiveling around with her chair to look at the _just slightly_ older, dark haired grump. The office space of the medical department was usually pretty quiet, reserved for doing paperwork, avoiding _certain_ crew members or just killing time. But now of course here he came calling out her name as she had sat there doing _actual_ work. However whilst turning around, she did not only see her goofy friend who’s _somehow_ her superior McCoy who was looking rather pale at the moment. But _also_ the chief engineer of the ship, Lt Commander Montgomery Scott.

“It’s nice to finally meet you Commander Scott, I’m Elfie Maxwell.” The motion of _instantly_ standing up and reaching out her hand quickly had not only caught herself off guard but also the now slightly flustered Lt. Commander. Max had never really met him before, sure she had heard about him _several_ times. From crewmates, from McCoy, from Kirk, from her best friend, from pretty much everyone who had met him. And she had actually seen him around in the corridors or in the canteen, so she wasn’t actually a stranger to his appearance or his body language. Seeing him this close and actually talking to him for the first time did feel extremely strange however, he seemed slightly different than how she’d observed before.

"Ach, please Maxwell, call me Scotty." 

“People usually call me Max,” She smiled at the man before continuing “So what can I do for you guys?” Max had started worrying about the cause of why the two men were there, well after the minor shock of meeting a Lt Commander for the first time of course... Anyhow, they are after all both Lieutenant Commanders, McCoy is a _‘way’_ better doctor than she is (even if she hated to admit it). So why did they come there to her to get her help, _unless_ there had been an emergency again. She did not have the energy for another couple of hours of patching up countless crewmembers. 

“Everything’s fine Max, I got- _Fuck!_ I got a _bit_ of a headache and Scotty here, _forced_ me to come here and get someone’s help as I wouldn’t put a hypo in my own damn neck myself.” McCoy muttered, taking a seat in the chair that Max had been sitting in when the two had entered the office. McCoy’s _almost_ normal ‘usual’ muttering of swear words hadn’t truly made sense in this moment until now. McCoy leaned forwards in the chair, catching his head in his hands and letting out a quick groan once more.

"Well mister grumpy let's take this to the actual medical bay and not the damn office and let’s give you that damn hypo." Max decided to go behind McCoy and steer the chair he was sitting in into the medical bay. "Scotty, you can follow with if you want, your choice though." Looking back at him, he nodded and ultimately decided to follow along.

"Look Max, you're not really helping me by driving me in the chair."

"Do you really want to walk there instead you buffoon-" Max teased swinging the chair a bit, rolling it side-to-side slightly, making McCoy's headache flare up a bit.

" _No_!" McCoy suddenly yelped making both Max and Scotty chuckle. Max steadied the chair and continued making their way into the medical bay, the other medics looking at them like they were insane at the moment. "Look just give me the medicine doc'." McCoy muttered loudly.

"Hypospray, five percent hydrocortilene." McCoy demanded as he looked up at the woman for a second as she was looking at the hypospray in her hands. 

"Oh _please_ you'll need three percent at max McCoy."

"Give me seven percent you _little-_ "

“ _Bones_ , be nice to the wee lass.” Scotty stepped in, seeming to be trying to defend Max. _However_ being called a ‘little girl’, wasn’t quite that nice. Elfie Maxwell always seemed to be thought of as way younger by her superiors even if she didn’t look that much younger. McCoy always calls her kiddo, of course he’s a friend and all but out of all the nicknames? _Kiddo?_ _Really?_ Max isn’t even _that_ short or that small in general, sure her eyes might give of a _young vibe_ but she was by no account a ‘wee’ kiddo. 

" _Please_ don't call me a little girl, I'm just a few years younger than you guys. I'll give the little stick in the mud the seven percent he _wants_ but doesn't _need_." Max muttered, picking up a hypospray, fixing the hydrocortilene setting on the hypospray before injecting the hypo into the side of his neck. McCoy, as the little wuss he is, hissed loudly.

"You're not supposed to stab me with it."

“You’re such a baby McCoy, however you should be fine now. Or well… Maybe a bit _woozy_ in a minute, remember that I didn’t tell you to make me give you seven percent, _your_ choice Doc.” 

“I’ll be fine.” McCoy rolled his eyes, standing up from the chair, clutching his head quickly as the headache flared up slightly at the quick movement once again.

“So where were you guys before this?”

"Jus' a meeting." Scotty smiled at Max, nodding slightly, it was apparent that Scotty and Max weren’t _quite_ acquainted with each other yet but he was truly trying to make the situation comfortable. It was quite sweet, Max had heard several things about the chief engineer, everything from him being extremely loveable to sometimes being _very_ annoying. When Max turned herself back towards McCoy, now sitting down on one of the beds, he seemed completely gone, _told him he didn’t need the seven percent_. “Well he seems rather pleased either way, even with the headache Kirk gave him.” 

“Kirk was the one who triggered this?” Max questioned Scotty with a confused look, snapping her fingers a bit over McCoy’s face, making sure she got at least _somewhat_ of a reaction.

“Aye, cannae tell you how but tha’ headache’s Kirk’s fault.” 

“ _Oh…_ Well I’m sorry you had to be in the middle of all of that.” Max nodded along, knowing how McCoy and Scotty’s conversations could drive someone insane. They were close as hell and whilst Max had sort of joined their little group of friends, she couldn’t compare her friendship with either of the men to the friendship between the two of them. But she did sometimes bet that their friendship couldn’t compare to her and her best friend’s. However that was just a personal little smugness she kept in her head. 

“McCoy I swear to everything if you made me give you seven percent to avoid your next shift I’ll make you cover me the next time I want one off.” Max muttered to McCoy, his eyes slightly opening at Max’s words, it was a start but if McCoy didn’t want to spend the night in the medical bay then Scotty or someone else would have to help Max carry him on their shoulders to McCoy’s quarters. “Scotty I need your help with this goofball.” Max turned to the scottish man beside her, who apparently stood way closer now than she had been expecting, making her jolt up. 

“No’ a problem Max, let’s get going shall we?” 

\---- --- ---

"So… _Commander_ Scott huh? I thought you guys had spoken by now, I mean we've been out here a _while_?" Jen questioned, Max nodded slightly, of course they probably should’ve met before but who’s to say when you’re going to meet someone for the first time. After Max’s shift, Jen, Max’s best friend who works in engineering had dragged Max over to her quarters. 

Apparently Jen had bought some sort of vodka mix _thingy_ from another engineer and then hid it somewhere in the quarters and finally decided that today was the day that they’d drink it. They started talking about their day as usual at first, merely sipping on the strong liquid. Max brung up drugged up McCoy and with that also brung up how she had met Scotty for the very first time. "I mean you guys aren't that… You're both… I mean… You're kind of alike Elfie?" Jen stumbled slightly over her words, as she often did. Jen was the sort of person who got the most of her confidence during stress or emergencies, however during normal days, she stumbled over her words _especially_ when she has to talk to a superior. But today it was simply a sign to Max that Jen had been slightly irritated during the day and now was tired, only wanting to relax with her best friend but stumbling over her words to try and find the right ones. 

"Thank you?" Max responded with uncertainty "I don't know him yet so I have no clue if that's positive or negative Jen. I've heard that he's talkative, from some I've heard that he's annoying, from some I've heard that he's great."

"All you need to know is that he’s _worth_ talking to, get to know him for yourself Elfie.” Jen smiled at Max “I mean El… Isn’t he _kind_ of… I mean… He is _kind_ of your type isn’t he? Dark blond, _slightly_ older? An engineer? Quite… quirky?” Jen started whispering for some reason, leaning in a bit, Jen’s lips starting to form into a bit of a smug smirk as Max’s skin flushed. “Look I’m not telling you to go fall in love with him… But it wouldn’t hurt you? Or well… I mean… Love does hurt when it ends- nevermind, ignore me…” Jen chuckled, shaking her head at her own tired rambling. 

“It has been a while since I’ve been anywhere close to even crushing- _ugh_ ” Max cringed at her own words, it made her feel like she was just a teenager again “I meant it has been a while since I’ve been anywhere close to even _having feelings_ for someone Jen. He’s sweet and all but I’m not sure he’ll be the one who’ll… well… the one whom I’ll open up that part of my life to again.” Max shrugged, sipping from the glass she had merely sipped from during the conversation. Readying herself to start taking slightly more of the strong liquid. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hiya, so this is the first chapter of maybe around like 15-20 ish? I've written about 6-7 of them atm so I'm prepared ish. I hope you enjoyed this first chapter of me once again crushing on a tech character who's way too old for me(18)... It's a regular occurence by now... Anywho... I swear this story does get better as the chapters go on, the first chapter is after all mostly a chapter to introduce most of the characters. 
> 
> As this and my last fic is like the first things I've posted since like 2015... I'd love feedback :), I mean I hope I've gotten quite a lot better than when I was writing 5sos fanfiction on wattpad, on my iphone, during a family roadtrip, whilst getting encouraged by equally bad writer internet friends... TMI? maybe? who tf knows. Anywho, FEEDBACK = VERY MUCH APPRECIATED, THANK YOU!
> 
> (Also btw all of these are probably going to be posted on tumlr under the same username so if you'd rather read on there just go over there :) )


	2. Could lead to sadness

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is probably the shortest chapter of the ones I've written so far, but I hope you enjoy nonetheless. I might upload the next chapter tonight as well. I just want to put this one on here and then on tumblr as well firstly. BTW! This fanfiction is also shared on Tumblr, it's the same username and everything. I haven't got that many posts yet but I'm working on it dudes.

“Jen!” Max shouted to Jen who stood farther in, in the engineering station. Max had searched around practically everywhere in the confusing engineering station for her and was just about to give up when she saw her. The place was a mess, tools everywhere and people running around like crazy, Max had probably bumped into 4 people in just the last minute. All Max knew was that McCoy had forced her down there to just grab some engineer, however not wanting to bother with one of the newbies; telling her to grab someone she trusts to not fuck up the medical bay equipment. 

After a few more calls of Jen’s name Max finally grabbed her attention. Jen was the only engineer Max _truly_ knew. Though Max had perhaps hung out with a few engineers during shore leaves or during nights where they may be the only ones with alcohol. But that was irrelevant, she never truly got to know any of them, which made being in one of the engineering stations pretty awkward. 

“Elfie!” Jen called out towards her, finally running over to her “What are you doing here? Don’t you hate this place?” Jen questioned in a rushed tone, still a smile on her lips and chuckling as always but looking around herself to glare back at her workmates that had started staring at them. 

“Look McCoy told me that we need some engineer person who we trust and who _wouldn’t_ screw up the medical equipment, _please_ tell me you can help me.” Max pleaded, pouting slightly. 

“Uhm… I mean… Yeah? I think I can? I should go check with Scotty though. Come with me?” Jen’s sentence had forced a wondering look on Max’s face before she eventually shrugged and allowed Jen to drag her along, placing her hand in Jen’s outstretched hand. Max wouldn’t be surprised if they got lost in the station or lost from each other but she had no doubt Jen would find her way to Scotty _eventually_. “You haven’t spoken to him since last week right?” Jen questioned looking back at her friend, Max nodded quickly. 

“I haven’t been avoiding him but… We hadn’t met _before_ that so what’s to say we’ll cross each other’s ways again? Well except right now of course but this doesn’t _quite_ count does it? You’re actually physically leading me to him and all.” Max’s flustered voice and expression didn’t go lost on Jen, a smug smirk spreading on her face as she kept heading forward towards where Scotty _should_ be. Scotty didn’t have much of an office, rather a small space where he _should be_ the majority of the time to be available to the people he’s chief to. However as Scotty is someone who likes to be social and also likes to actually manage the engineering, he wasn’t _always_ there. Or _actually_ very rarely there.  
  
This time though, they had been in luck, Scotty sitting in his chair, legs propped up on the desk looking at his PADD. Releasing each other’s hands and looking towards the Chief engineer that seemed lost within the information on his PADD. By the looks of it he didn’t even seem to notice the two friends standing in his little area. 

“Scotty?” Jen said quietly, not wanting to startle her superior. But that was unfortunately not possible as Scotty jolted up slightly and instantly placed his feet back on the ground, his eyes snapping up towards the two girls. “Hi! I… Uhm… Well the medical bay seems to need some help and Elfie came to get me so I wanted to check if I could… well if I could go up there and look at their issues?” Jen stumbled through her words once again, it wasn’t that she was scared or nervous to talk to her superior, it was slightly more that she didn’t know what words to use. 

Well at least not in the professional sense, if it had been a friday evening in the engineering station she would’ve easily had a conversation with Scotty. However now she was completely sober and nervous about doing anything even slightly unprofessional. 

“I though’ no one called ya Elfie, Max?” Scotty joked as he then turned his focus back to Jen “Tha’s fine, I could follow along if ya need any help?” Scotty’s offer was sweet, not in anyway necessary but sweet nonetheless. However before Max could’ve said that it wasn’t necessary, Jen had of course told him that it’d be for the best. ‘ _You are the chief engineer after all’_ Jen had told him with a small smile. “Lead the way.” Scotty told the two girls as they started to walk towards the exit of the engineering station. 

“Scotty? Jen is the only one that calls me Elfie… She’s my best friend. Everyone else just usually calls me Max or Maxwell…” Max felt that she had to explain to Scotty as they had made their way into the hallway, Jen leading the group even if Max probably knew the way _way_ better. “Well... I-… My family does call me Elfie as well, which is reasonable… I suppose.”

“D’ya not like the name?” 

“No not really,” Max answered quickly, it was a question she had answered before and some understood, some did not “it’s just that… I don’t know… I just-”

“Lass it’s fine but jus’ so ya know, Elfie is a very pretty name. Y’know my name’s actually Montgomery, my family usually calls me Monty…” Scotty gives her a big smile, patting her lightly on her back. Monty sounded better, it felt more… Well _personal_ Max supposed, it fit him, he feels _home-y._ But feeling too at home with him _could_ lead to sadness, Max had _just_ met him after all. 


	3. His choice

The amount of reparations McCoy had wanted the trusted engineers to perform were apparently… _ a lot  _ and quite troublesome as well, so much so that Scotty and Jen had to return the next day. It was in these moments that Max started wondering if McCoy just left reparations that were needed to the very last second, as if he waited for  _ at least _ three things to break before calling the engineers. Sure McCoy wasn’t one to waste the medical equipment he had but he obviously didn’t want engineers running around the place all the time? 

However all of this was just a theory in Max’s head,  _ trying  _ to distract herself when she sat by Jen and Scott as they repaired the equipment. It had been  _ very  _ slow in the medical bay lately, McCoy had most of the small situations under control, and  _ if not _ there were other doctors and she could simply sit there waiting for McCoy to call her through her communicator, to tell her that there had been some big accident,  _ several limbs lost and everything _ . 

Throughout the reparations Max had sat there looking at the two engineers, maybe  _ mostly _ at Scotty. She had seen Jen fix things before, Jen had fixed, upgraded or repaired her replicator way too many times for Max  _ not  _ to have seen her fix something. Scotty’s engineer ways didn’t seem that different from Jen’s however he seemed to mostly supervise Jen and make sure she knew what she was doing. Scotty was also intermittenly messaged by the other engineers, sometimes small things but eventually it seemed that a few larger incidents that needed to be taken care of. Still he wasn’t leaving Jen and Max, not running to the next situation.

“Scotty, you can go if you want? I’m sure Jen’ll do fine.” Max told him, starting to feel guilty for not only taking her engineer friend’s attention away from perhaps bigger things but now  _ also  _ the chief engineer’s attention. Scotty  _ almost  _ wished he had told her to call him Monty yesterday. Sure it’d  _ almost  _ be a new thing for him, he wasn’t really used to the nickname except from when he’s back home. And well… considering all the alone time with Keenser out in the cold on Delta Vega for  _ way too long _ . And then beaming to the Enterprise with Kirk, basically inventing ( _ being gifted) _ the transwarp beaming equation. And after  _ all of that _ getting out on new adventures with the Enterprise. It had simply been a  _ long _ time since he’d been called Monty. And to maybe hear it from  _ her? _

“Nae, I can’ jus’ leave ya.” The scotsman claimed, his denial  _ truly truly _ wasn’t about the way he felt when he caught Max’s eyes on him and the way he  _ had sort of  _ avoided her throughout the week. But now couldn’t resist sitting there just a  _ small  _ distance from her. Scotty wouldn’t really admit it to himself but he found himself drawn to the woman that was  _ as she said _ ‘just a few years younger than  _ you’ _ . Which intimidated him, he hadn’t truly sought out companionship for the following years on the enterprise but there she was. Sure he had doubts about the whole thing and he wouldn’t ever believe it if she had the same feelings towards him. The thought itself felt absurd to even think about. 

“ _ Scotty, _ it’s okay, I swear. You clearly have more important things to handle.” Max told him when his communicator called for him again “I won’t hold it against you y’know, you’re the  _ chief engineer _ . I shouldn’t be keeping you here  _ stuck  _ with me and the medical bay’s problems.” Max chuckled slightly, scratching her neck, looking down on the ground beside the two engineers, Jen also confirming that it’d all be fine if he left. 

“If ya insist, I’ll jus’ check in later?” Scotty shrugged, gathering the tools he might need but that Jen might not need, wouldn’t want to make them take even more time on the repairs just because of his taking of the tools she might’ve needed. It was probably for the best either way, Scotty had sort of blown off the other engineering staff to help Max’s problem. Max nodded at his small question about checking in later. Mumbling something about the next shift as she looked down at her PADD. “Then I’ll see ya later then…” Scotty trailed off, backing out of the room, opening his communicator to hear who needed him at the moment. 

“So… one of the engineers you trust is Scotty huh?” McCoy teased coming from behind Max out of the office she could’ve sat in during all of this if she hadn’t wanted to observe the repairs the pair of engineers performed. “Didn’t know that you two had gotten so close lately?” He mused with a smirk on his face, clearly sensing how Max had instantly tensed up and rolled her eyes.

“Shut up McCoy.” Max rolled her eyes, putting her hand over her face as she looked at the man who had entered the room. “Everything okay? no medical emergencies or anything?” Max questioned,  _ perhaps _ trying to change the subject. 

  
“Yeah yeah, everything is fine.  _ Lieutenant Rogers _ do you mind telling me what’s going on between my little kiddo doctor and the chief engineer?”

“Well…” Jen paused, laying her tools down momentarily, already seeming slightly flustered by the question “She’s…  _ well…  _ He’s her type-”

“-Jen!” 

“I’m not  _ lying _ am I? And he has probably ignored way more important stuff just to hang out over here with our sweet little doctor, ‘ _ supervising _ ’ mostly” Jen chuckled and gesturing quote marks with her fingers around the  _ supervising _ part before returning to the repairs.

“Okay, well kiddo, don’t break anyone’s heart now.” McCoy almost said sternly, as the true grump he is. As Max processed his sentence she simply shook her head,  _ break anyone’s heart _ , who did he think she was. Sure they had gotten to know each other a little better during yesterday’s and today’s repair sessions but she  _ barely  _ knew him. And  _ sure _ he was her type, Jen had been right about that ever since that time they were sat in her quarters drinking that vodka mix, she had even confirmed it even more later that evening. 

\--- --- ---

_ “He is quite cute right? I mean he’s… Sweet? I really liked his eyes…” Her tone dreamy as she looked over at Jen with a big smile before her face fell “-God I can never show myself by engineering again can I?” The vodka mix had been settling in very nicely and given both of the girls quite the buzz. _

_ “Oh please it’s not as if you embarrassed yourself…-wait did you?” _

_ “Well no but… I mean… having feelings towards a lieutenant commander, a superior? That’s baaad, really bad. Isn’t it?”  _

_  
_ _ “It doesn’t have to- It could be great! You could be really cute together.” _

\--- --- ---

  
However Max was afraid that Jen was wrong, it wouldn’t be ‘cute’, it wouldn’t be great and it simply couldn’t  _ be _ .  _ Fuck _ Max thought,  _ stop thinking about it _ , _ push all thoughts aside and simply breathe, look over the lists on the PADD, check if there’s anything else you can fix while the action at the medical bay is slow.  _ Max’s thoughts didn’t stop however and even if she would deny it extremely to  _ both  _ herself or anyone else, she really was happy that the scotsman had entered her life. Whether it would only be temporarily and then not see each other ever again, or if he was there to stay in her life. It would either way probably be  _ his choice _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another chapter, within like the same week I think?? I'm just too bored to wait. Also the writing is going pretty well so I think it's okay and that I still have a lot of time to finish the whole thing :) so yeah. buh-bye


	4. I forgot you call her that!

The repairs had been done just some hour later after Scotty had left. 

“I’ll just tell Scotty that everything’s under control and that he doesn’t need to check in.” Jen explained to Max as Jen looked down on her PADD, checking to see that everything was truly done and that she had done everything right, _the last checks_ . Max nodded, it was understandable, _totally_ understandable… But did she want to see Scotty? _Of course_ , they’re now _sort of_ officially friends, did she want to admit that she wanted to see him to Jen and get teased to death in public? No. 

While she found a small affection for the man even within probably the first day… That affection had… _grown_ . It had grown, especially during the short time he spent in the medical bay during the repairs. Seeing him care _so much_ for something, seeing him passionate for something he probably does daily? _Who doesn’t love passion?_ And they’d talk! Sure it wasn’t some sort of _deep talk_ but he told her about Scotland, about his _home_. 

Much to Max’s pleasure, Scotty checked in anyway. Max, at first being worried that he hadn’t gotten Jen’s message until her eyes caught his, throwing that worry out the metaphorical window. He had searched the room _for her_ and in doing so, making her breathe slightly more shallowly. And then of course he started walking straight towards her, keeping the eye contact but accidentally stumbling into one of the nurses as he hadn’t taken in his surroundings completely. 

“I kno’ that Jen said everything’s fine bu’ I jus’ wanted to stop by anyway…” Scotty smiled at Max, what Max didn’t see however was his slightly antsy body language and his brain trying hard to keep the eye contact and not look away. Whilst Max tried telling herself to look away, _don’t make it awkward_ , but couldn’t look away. 

“Yeah of course, uhm… it’s just over here… But you know that…” Max stumbled slightly, chuckling, finally averting her gaze away from Scotty’s eyes and walking towards the repaired equipment. Scotty nodded, inspecting the equipment, just maybe _perhaps_ trying to drag out the moment by taking a _really_ good look.

“Hello there Scotty.” McCoy of course walked over to the two fools that stood by the perfectly fine repaired equipment “I thought Jen said it didn’t need a check in?” McCoy turned his eyes towards Max with a questioning look, as well as a smug smirk playing on his lips. Max’s eyes somewhat widening at his question, McCoy’s expression constantly being in a smug state around the two fools. 

“Ach no, bu’ it can’ hurt can it?” Scotty looked up at the CMO, picking up his PADD to really get _everything_ checked. Scotty was afraid that he was being way too transparent, to McCoy? He definitely was, to Max? Not at all. 

\--- --- ---

“I feel stupid.” Max groaned as she entered her best friend’s quarters, as she had already memorized the code months ago, “Am I stupid? 

“You’re not stupid but you are quite foolish, come here El.” Jen chuckled, embracing her best friend in a hug as Max walked over to her. “Why do you feel stupid? Did you say something to him? Did _he_ say something?” Jen rushed through her words, putting her hands on Max’s shoulders and pushing her away so she could see her face, Max’s hands hooking onto Jen’s elbows’ creases. 

  
“Nope… But I mean… _Ugh!_ I just met this man, tell me I’m not being stupid? I haven’t had feelings for anyone since _like the academy_ !” Max groaned remembering the stupid guy she had fallen for years ago. His hair was brown instead of blond but he was still _slightly_ older and _quite_ quirky… and _yes_ also an engineer… _of course_. “What can I do? Like what are my options?” Max then asked Jen, going back in for a hug from her best friend who had started overthinking it all the second she caught Scotty’s eye contact. 

“You can tell him-”

“-No!”

“You could try to get to know him more before you do anything?” Jen then suggested, running her hand over her best friend’s hair, keeping her other arm now locked around Max’s shoulders. They had always been very close with physical contact, Jen was basically the only person Max let that close to _her_ , her thoughts, her heart, herself. It almost felt like a requirement to have someone there for you during the lonesome years in space, _even if the ship is flooded with people,_ you need your number one. The person you could call home. Jen is that person for her. 

“I could… I mean I’m… He and I could probably be just friends right?”

“Why are you so determined on keeping him away from you-” 

“I’m not!” Max walked away a little from Jen, shaking her head and rubbing her hands over her face, trying to beat the sleepiness that was starting to seep in.

“You are, I know it won’t be some… _well_ some whirlwind-falling in love within just a day or whatever but don’t be _afraid_ to let him in Elfie!” Jen told her quite loudly, gesturing with her hands like she was some sort of mad scientist. “ _He likes you too,_ you do know that right?” Jen almost whispered now, stepping towards Max who now stood there, her hands just covering her face as she breathed deeply. But at Jen’s words she let her arms go cross over her torso instead. 

“No he doesn’t, we can’t know that. Let’s just let this all be, I’m too tired for this. Let’s go eat and then go sleep.”

\--- --- ---

“Scotty you can’t deny this, you _like_ her.”

“Who likes who?”

“Scotty _just_ met Max last week and he’s _already_ falling in love.” McCoy teased the scotsman, Keenser laughing at the teasing as Kirk sat down, joining the three who were eating together. 

“ _-I’m not in love, she’s jus’ very…_ -She’s simply a friend.” Scotty stammered slightly as he looked at the unconvinced facial expressions of his friends. Keenser nudged his friends in the ribs, shaking his head and went back to eating his- _very small_ meal. Scotty had of course teased Keenser sometimes about being able to eat just _one_ bean and being satisfied, but most times, such as this one, it meant that he dragged out the time of eating that one bean just to sit there with his friends. However at this moment Scotty wished that Keenser would just eat his food so he’d at least have one less person teasing him about his affection for the doctor he’d newly met.

“God- _Maxwell_ , I haven’t seen her in a while, where has she been lately?” Kirk spoke with fondness before shaking his head with a small chuckle.

“Over there, joined at the hip with Ms Rogers as always.” McCoy chuckled, looking over at the two girls who just walked in. Scotty’s eyes may have just _may have_ snapped over to the entrance as he saw the girl he _still_ hadn’t stopped thinking about and was anxious to see again. “And you say she’s just a friend huh? Hope you don’t look at me like that.” McCoy joked as he looked back at his food. 

“We should call them over, have them join us. I don’t think I’ve talked to Maxwell since… _way_ too long ago.”

“Do you _really_ not remember your drunken little fight?”

“Our _what?_ ” Kirk questioned McCoy before recalling the last time they had been on shore leave a few months ago. Kirk, Max and McCoy had sat down in a bar, drinking way too much too fast and eventually Kirk and Max had found something to fight about; p _retty much everything in this god damn universe_ “-ooh.” Kirk realised that he hadn’t spoken to her since then. “Do you think she’s still… _irritated?”_

“No it should be fine, the kiddo doesn’t dwell on things.” 

“-I forgot you call her that!” Kirk’s laugh could’ve probably been heard from every corner of the canteen, which of course made Scotty’s eyes widen at Kirk, trying to tell him to _shut up_.

“Look I’ll talk t’ her, I’d talk t’ her everyday if I could but-”

“ _You can_.” McCoy muttered, almost wanting to lock the two crewmembers in some closet or turbolift for a few days and see if they’d eat each other up or _eat_ _each other up_ so he’d finally get some peace from the craziness Max brings around. “It’s not that hard Scotty, visit the medical bay once in a while, _make up an excuse_ for her to come down to the engineering station, I _bet_ she’ll take _any_ excuse. _I’ll_ even help you god damnit.”

  
“Christ McCoy, calm down.” Kirk chuckled, rolling his eyes at his friends. He missed this sometimes, even when he had it, he missed these moments of laughter at the expense of his friends. Especially when it came down to one of his friends falling in love with another of his friends, however with Maxwell and Scotty, he knew it’d take way too long before they’ll truly show their emotions towards each other. Hence why he and McCoy would have to try and push them together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly that whole 'your person' thing, I wrote that like weeks ago but right now I really can confirm it for myself. I recently started Uni and honestly I need my people dude, sort of homesick and craving physical affection. Anywho, hoped you enjoyed this chapter! As said before, this also exists on Tumblr if you'd rather read it over there, though the updates might be a bit later on Tumblr as I need to go through the whole italics in tumblr's post editor :), totally not infuriating.


	5. Whoever it is

It had been a _few_ months and McCoy had regretted his offer after only a week or two, seeing the doctor and the chief engineer talk or ‘ _flirt_ ’, _if you could call it that_ . Was way worse than hearing Scotty’s pining at meal times. It was completely embarrassing at this point, _especially_ when Scotty would come into the medical bay when he had been wounded or simply need a hypo for a headache. Max was there as quickly as possible, ready to help him heal up the wound, fix the hypo or _whatever_ he needed. 

“We _need_ to do something about Scotty and Max, I’m going insane Jim.”

“Well hello to you too Bones, I’m just fine, y’know everything’s just great, I’m totally great! How are you?” Kirk rolled his eyes while putting on a smug smile as he glanced at his friend, continuing his fast pace through the hallways of the enterprise. Barely even surprised by McCoy’s sudden appearance by his side. “Look just let them be, they’ll figure it out. _If not_ we’ll simply send them down to Delta Vega, I’m sure that’ll give Scotty the push he needs.” Kirk chuckled whilst thinking back to the planet he’d found Scotty and Keenser on, Scotty had after all hated being on that planet with barely any food, if the only way back was confessing… Scotty _might_ take it. 

“-tell him that I don’t want to see him right now!” They heard Max’s rushed voice from the medical bay they were just about to pass by. “Tell him I’m… I’m busy! That I have way too much…- _something_ at the moment… Tell him that I… _ugh fuck_.” Max groaned as she paced in front of one of the nurses, repeatedly lightly hitting her forehead with her closed hand as if she had a headache. 

“Kiddo? You okay?” 

  
“-Stop calling me kiddo! And _no-_ **yes** … _I don’t know_ McCoy, _shut up_.” Max glared at the man before walking over to the office, slamming the door shut behind her. 

“What the hell happened there?” Kirk questioned, looking towards the nurse who seemed to have completely given up on whatever her small assignment from Maxwell was. 

“Commander Scott may have… excuse my language, _fucked up_ . She won’t tell us what happened but _something_ definitely seems to have happened Captain.” The nurse shrugged, practically muttering the words whilst running their hand over their face in irritation. 

“Could you message Lieutenant Jen Rogers and ask her to come to the medical bay, do tell her it’s nothing urgent though.” Kirk said calmly to the nurse whilst McCoy just stood there shaking his head lightly. “ _Look_ at this! This is probably what would happen if we _did_ lock them up somewhere.”

“Yeah well it is better than having to see the two fools standing here talking for hours and completely denying their feelings. Now something could actually happen.” 

“What happened to Elfie?” Jen rushed into the medical bay, running over to McCoy and Kirk, panting as she now stared at the two men, urging them to talk. “Come on! I got a message that _said_ it was from the captain and told me to get to the medical bay, I’m Elfie’s emergency contact on the ship, now where the fuck is she?” Kirk and McCoy had never heard Jen sounded so demanding, the girl who usually stumbled over her words was for once the one who seemed in charge, almost more so than the captain himself. 

“It’s not really one of those emergencies Jen, apparently something’s happened between Maxwell and Scotty and Maxwell just shouted at a nurse.” Kirk explained as he felt himself shifting around, now slightly flustered as him and McCoy just had been yelled at. “She’s in the office…” He then mumbled, averting his gaze away from the woman in front of him, scratching the back of his head. 

“Jesus Christ, you tell me to come to the medical bay but she’s _completely_ fine? I swear to god I’ll get you back for this. For _now_ this’ll do-” She started calming down as she then swatted the boys on their arms hard “And now I’ll go and talk to my best friend like you clearly ~ _c_ _ouldn’t~_.” Jen sighed and walked over to the office door, knocking abruptly before walking inside without a response, seeing Max sitting in the small couch in the corner of the office. “What happened between you and Scotty?” Jen asked quietly, sitting down next to the girl who looked as tired as a sloth. 

“I’m just tired of it all, I’m tired of feeling like this. I’m tired of being the only one feeling like this between me and him! He has shown zero interest Jen-“

“You’re kidding me El! Do I have to get you both drunk to get you to get the two of you together? Haven’t you seen the way he looks at you?” Jen’s voice came out rushed and irritated, now pacing in front of Max as she rambled through the _clearly obvious_ acts of affection that Jen herself had claimed to see (but not telling her the excuses she’d caused for him to get to the med bay more often than needed, it’s not like a little laser to the arm will _really_ hurt her superior. And it was an excuse to get Scotty to talk to Max some more than usual. So of course Scotty didn’t really complain that much either, even when it was happening way too often to be an accident.)

“Hey Doc! There’s someone here for you!” Kirk’s voice came out more annoying than usual as he had opened the door slightly, breaking Jen’s rambling. Jen just huffing out a sigh before walking out the office, she needed a break. 

“Let _whoever_ it is in, please help her stop fussing about this and show her the goddamn truth?” Jen groaned to Kirk, passing him by quickly before leaving to go to her quarters, not having the energy to try to get Max to stop fussing about the whole thing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another part added to the thing I like writing the most. Honestly writing on this fic was like my rest during the insecurities of posting my Agent Whiskey smut, like I'd just rest, write about my 2 absolute favourite idiots and calm down. With that in mind... what the fuck am I supposed to do when I do start writing the smut for this fic... bc like it's... I want to write it and it will be here in a couple chapters... Let's just wait and see huh?


	6. Push your chance?

“Hello.” Scotty announced his presence as he awkwardly entered the room. Of course he’d gotten the message that she didn’t really want to see him right now, but he felt that he needed to do the _right_ thing. Whatever that may be. Leaving her alone, leaving her to be out of his life didn’t feel like the right thing but if that was what it came to, then that would be it. But he didn’t think she wanted that either. 

“I’m sorry.” 

_Well that wasn’t what he expected her to say_

_“You’re sorry?”_ He wondered, walking up to her slowly, sitting down on the armrest of the couch still way too far from her in his opinion, but this wasn’t the time to test limits. “Why are you sorry?” 

  
“For avoiding you.” She mumbled quietly, with no words in response and no words from the latest source, the room felt sort of haunted. The quietness of it all. “Look I’m just… I’m just gonna go.” Max felt almost like she was speaking to herself as she stood up from the couch and walked out to see a small crowd assembled around the door to the office, staring at it. Pushing through the small crowd, she began working again, ignoring the way the small crowd stared and trying to ignore the feeling burning in her head.

\--- --- ---

“You shouldn’t have let her go.” Kirk sighed as he walked into the office, _of course_ he knew that it hadn’t gone along to whatever image of the situation Scotty had planned when he stepped into the room. “ _Sure_ she’s stubborn but I’m sure she didn’t even have to put up a fight. How many words did you even say? Did you tell her any of the stuff you’ve wanted to tell her for months?” Kirk’s slight ramble scolding to Scotty was getting annoying, but the usual temper of the Scotsman had dampened. 

“Yeah yeah.” He mumbled finally, slumping down into one of the seats of the couch, planting his feet on the ground below, placing his elbows against his knees and clasping his head in his hands. Slowly trying to rub some sort of emotion or energy back into his head as he massaged his forehead. 

“We’re going to fix this. _Somehow_ , at least there’s… Well at least _something’s_ happening? Right?” Kirk had started walking around in the room in a small circle. _“I just want you both to be okay god damnit.”_ He muttered after a while, slowing down his walk and came to sit down beside Scotty, patting his back once. 

\--- --- ---

Max had been so distracted by her thoughts throughout the morning that she almost wanted to scold herself for not doing work when she was scheduled to do so. However, being distracted and doing work as a doctor… That’s not always a good mix, so of course McCoy told her to go away. And now… now there was nothing to do. Max simply wandered around the ship in her uniform, waving and saying hi to the people she knows around the ship. Sort of clueless on what to do with the rest of her day.

  
The avoidance of Scotty, it hadn’t been for nothing. However she wasn’t surprised that Scotty hadn’t noticed, she had only started that morning so _fair enough_ . Scotty had once again pulled the fantastic move of ‘getting way too close and then pretending like it was nothing’ the move that had been on repeat for way too long. They’d gotten to know each other, they started getting more confident around each other and so there were… _moments._ Moments that Max hadn’t told Jen about so as to not be scolded. Montgomery Scott was sometimes an awkward man. That she couldn’t deny but why, _why_ would someone ever get just centimetres away from a kiss just to _loudly_ interrupt themselves with a quip, pretend nothing happened and then bolt off? That she would probably never get a true answer to. 

Max had begun worrying that it simply was just her leaning in, him realizing that she was leaning in and cutting it off before she’d smack her head into his. Hence the avoidance. It wasn’t as if she would have been able to avoid him anyway, not really. She saw him practically everyday, not that she’d ever complain about that. Sometimes it was simply a visit, sometimes it was reminding her of a promised ‘lunch date’ in the mess hall and _sometimes_ it was him with a small wound that was usually _intentionally_ caused by Jen. Which of course earned her some harsh ‘pats’ against the back of her head, _friendly smacks_ so to speak. 

However the _‘moments’_ didn’t really happen on those occasions but rather when the very late night was approaching, usually sitting in Scotty’s makeshift office, leaning their backs against his wobbly desk. _“How long do you think we can stay here without dooming our day tomorrow?”_ She once asked him, leaning her head against his shoulder. Max is to no one’s surprise a night owl, her sleep schedule during shore leaves is chaotic to say the least and while she wishes she could say that staying up all night wouldn’t cause any harm to the following day; of course it does. Scotty is however _surprisingly_ a morning person, someone who was up bright and early and probably went to bed ‘way too early’ according to Max. However his answer that night was; _“As long as you wish. I’d like to think that time makes exceptions some times”_

The true moments that caused Max’s sudden avoidance were the moments that followed moments like that, the way it would become quiet in the small office, her head coming off his shoulder as she wanted to see his eyes again. Something she had fallen in love with especially, _his eyes_. One of them had a very unique dot in them, well the dot itself wasn’t unique maybe but rather what made his eyes unique. A single rather large brown fleck in those green-ish blue-ish eyes. She both loved and hated to try and analyze his eyes, when they’d look as lost as she felt during one of these moments, the feeling bittersweet in her overthinking mind. Whenever she leaned into one of these moments there was always that worry that he wasn’t leaning in as well, that he hadn’t heard the beating in her chest the last few months. That he simply wasn’t ever going to explain this and that her tremendous fear of his rejection would keep her from ever asking what’s truly going on. 

And so… Max had decided to try and avoid Scotty. _And it had already failed._ Apologizing swiftly to Jen about earlier, at the entrance of her quarters went easier and quicker than Max had thought it would. 

“I’m not actually mad at you El, I mean it’s not like I’m expecting you to _suddenly_ realize that _‘oh my, my practically already boyfriend actually likes me!’_ ” Jen’s tone was slightly mocking. Not that Max was extremely surprised at the fact. “So are you going to continue ignoring him?” 

“How did you know that I’m-”

“-Oh please, I mean I might not be the smartest crewmember but you not wanting to see Scotty even if it’s just for a moment, is reason enough to suspect you avoiding him. So for how long is it truly going to last?”

\--- --- ---

It had lasted for two weeks so far and those two weeks weren't even _comfortably_ avoiding each other but rather, bumping into each other every goddamn day. When Max was going into the mess hall, Scotty was sneaking out of his early lunch, trying to not go over any boundaries. The feelings of guilt always seemed to punch Max in the gut every time they bumped into each other, the awkward smiles, the way both of them mouthed ‘hi’, all because Max didn’t feel like she could be around him if their ‘friendship’ had gone on like it had. The feelings of guilt felt better than the self doubt and sadness over the feeling that her love felt unrequited. And even if it was, _maybe_ they were better off without the drama, without the back and forth, without the small _‘moments’_ that threatened the view of their friendship. _At least_ her work was going well, her and McCoy had started some experimental treatments, trying to find some sort of scientific breakthrough. 

So Max threw herself into her work, working from the break of ‘dawn’, whatever that’s supposed to be when you’re in space, to the crack of the night. Since she couldn’t seem to avoid Scotty, why not just _live_ in the office? Nurses and other doctors can deliver food right? That’s not… that’s not ethically wrong? In the worst cases; when McCoy wouldn’t help her through taking some food back from the mess hall or would forget… She’d hidden a few foodbars in a drawer in the office, one of the ones that McCoy never went into. If another doctor found it, sure, fine, no big deal. If McCoy found it, _well_ she’d probably get forced to go to mess hall everyday or at least get _somewhat_ of a scolding. 

So hiding it in one of the drawers he never went into was the answer to that ‘small’ problem.

And now… Well now of course shore leave was coming up, they were going to the closest resort planet and were going to rest for two weeks. Two weeks of basically nothing to do, after two weeks of doing way too much? Well this was going to be a pleasant crash of her mental state. Time to throw herself into her friendship with Jen? 

“So if I were to just… hang onto you during the whole duration of this trip would you mind?” Max felt weird asking this, it wasn’t as if she and Jen hadn’t hung out whilst she was throwing herself into work, Jen came into the office every once in a while and Max hung out in Jen’s quarters when she decided to take breaks from the incessant research. However right now the two of them were sitting in the office that Max had spent her latest two weeks in, Max in the same office chair as always whilst Jen sat on the small couch. 

“El, who else were you going to hang out with?” Jen chuckled, setting her elbow on top of the back support of the couch and keeping her glance towards Max instead of the book she’d brought in case Max had once again deep dived into her research focus. “I mean no offense but _usually_ we cling onto each other as if we were each other’s lifebuoy. I say we spend the first night at the watering hole, spend time with Kirk and McCoy at least for an hour or two, let me flirt with a few people who're not from engineering as I’ll never make that mistake again. Then we can just go hang out and rest for the rest of the two weeks, I’ve heard they got an absolute masterpiece of a spa.” Jen was officially planning their shore leave, putting down her book to explain her seemingly masterpiece of a plan through hand gestures. Jen would never put down planning a shore leave, on the ship everything is very touch and go all the time, taking it day for day. But with shore leaves, at least a few days of just rest (unless emergencies arise) where she could plan out every second seemed like heaven. 

“I mean unless you have _something else_ planned?” Jen then smirked at her best friend, Jen knew that Max _deeply_ deserved a shore leave, however Max didn’t seem to think the same thing. Whilst Max had thrown herself into work, Jen had gotten slightly less and less enthusiastic about coming into the engineering station. If she could she’d usually spend her whole day on that couch in the office, or just fixing the equipment in the office. Seeing Scotty had gotten weird. It wasn’t that… Well it was exactly that the situation between Scotty and Max had caused a slight disruption in Jen’s professional relationship with Scotty, especially since Scotty was keen on getting updates on Max. And what was she supposed to say _‘yeah no she’s great… she’s just avoiding you and practically the entire crew completely. And y’know she’s sort of suppressing her feelings and instead putting all of her energy into her work until she has no energy left to express her feelings with… yeah she’s doing great!’_ honestly it’s sort of what Jen wanted to say. 

But Max would figuratively kill her.

“Like what?” Max responded after a short while, probably too focused on fixing the grammar for a few seconds to really take in Jen’s question. 

“I don’t know… Maybe we could schedule some time for you to… well… I mean… _rebound?”_ Jen’s voice shrank the minute she said her last word of her stumbling sentence, it wasn’t that Max would react badly, but she wouldn’t react greatly either. 

“Oh please, I don’t need a rebound. Also while we’re using you’re whole _‘scheduling every second of the day’_ thing, maybe we should schedule in some more than just flirting for you.” Jen grimaced at Max’s response “Don’t give me that look. You were practically undressing one of the security ensigns that we’ve never even spoken to the other day. Maybe you should talk to them?” 

  
“I mean, _maybe?_ ” 

\--- --- ---

“I do believe they’ll still join us for drinks on the first night.” Kirk spoke suddenly while they were eating lunch. Scotty’s eyes still focused on the food as the rest of the men beside him started glaring at him. Everyone knew who Kirk meant. 

“Yeah Jen mentioned it the other day.” McCoy smirked, he didn’t like trying to force a reaction out of Scotty, but it had been two weeks. Scotty knew exactly where Max was hiding out, he knew that no one in the medical bay would ever stop him but would if anything they’d lay a red carpet up to the office door. “Jen’s always planning everything way too much. But at least it means we know exactly where to find one of our best doctors and one of our great engineers.” McCoy knew he was pushing it and he’d probably keep this up for the rest of the lunch anyway. 

McCoy desperately wanted Max out of the office at least for a few days, her vitals didn’t seem all too well and sitting in the same room, sometimes almost being completely alone for days… it couldn’t really be that good for her head. So _yes_ he knows that he’s pushing it, he was even the one who’d messaged Jim telling him that they’d be having drinks together on the first evening and that he should bring it up at lunch to inform the rest of their small lunch group. 

If anything the decision about shore leave had been slightly made because of the circumstances with Elfie Maxwell, however she was just one of many examples of their exhausted and overworked crewmembers.

  
And now even Keenser was trying to show his enthusiasm for the bar where they’ll meet up with the doctor. Scotty was tired, he’d been showing up early for every meal, been working his ass off and _sort of_ avoiding the men he now sat with. He didn’t want to constantly hear about the chance that he might get to see Max again. He didn’t want to make Max uncomfortable, that was his priority, but how the hell was he supposed to know if she was uncomfortable or not if he didn’t even see her. He wanted to see her. _Desperately_. He wanted to hear her say his name again, he didn’t even care if it was in anger. He just wanted another chance, but at the same time he didn’t want to be the one who pushed the chance into their lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while, I'm sooo grateful for all the kudos. I recently re-wrote this chapter and then deleted the chapters I had written that came after the earlier written version. Which is why this has been taking a while. I just never felt truly satisfied with the earlier version and the way the story would be going with that. So... here we are with a new chapter that's pretty much completely recently written. It's also the longest chapter so far and I loved doing that. Also... just a little wink for my other Star Trek fanfiction readers; I might be writing a smut piece for another character :). So yep! That'll be up as soon as I finish it and feel satisfied with it (which I hope is way quicker than it took with this chapter) 
> 
> Feedback and kudos are always extremely, extremely welcome and appreciated!


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